OPINION | This Women's History Month, Uplift the Powerful Outcomes of Women's Movements

by Cindy Domingo

As we celebrated International Women's Day (IWD) on March 8, I was reminded that out of the negative experiences and stories of women and girls, powerful social movements led by women develop. Such was the emergence of International Women's Day. Begun by socialist European movements, it was the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in Chicago that killed 146 young, mostly immigrant women that popularized IWD. Today, IWD is celebrated globally as a day to highlight the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. Coupled with the declaration of March as Women's History Month, women's contributions to history, especially in the area of women's equality, can become the discussions in classrooms, community meetings, and events. However, celebrations and education on history are only one part of IWD and Women's History Month, as their spirit is also a call to action for continued work and organizing for women's equality.

This month, individuals, non-governmental organizations, and representatives of United Nations Member States will meet from March 11 to 22 at the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) to assess the advancement and gaps of women's equality as outlined in the document called the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. This gathering happens annually at the U.N. headquarters in New York and is coupled with hundreds of workshops and forums held virtually and in-person organized by civil society organizations for the purposes of galvanizing the international women's movement in the fight for gender equality.

This, too, grew out of a movement led by women. It has been 29 years since 30,000-plus women gathered in Beijing, China, at the United Nations International World Conference on Women. Thousands of other women waited at China's borders hoping to get into the country to what has now become the largest international gathering of women. This historic moment was the culmination of three U.N. world conferences on women and resulted in the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, adopted unanimously by 189 countries and seen as the key global policy document on gender equality, focusing on 12 critical areas of concern, including women and poverty, women and armed conflict, and women and the environment. It was at this moment that the slogan "women's rights are human rights" became popularized.

I, along with Washington State Rep. Sharon Tomiko Santos, brought a Washington delegation of 33 women to the CSW, a life-changing 12-day conference, and one that solidified Santos' and my commitment and the commitments of thousands of others there to the struggle against patriarchy and for the full equality of women.

In the spirit of IWD, it was the many actions, words, and women who were celebrated at that conference that forged the Beijing Platform for Action. The older Korean and Filipino women who were forced into sexual slavery during World War II by the Japanese Imperial Army joined the Bosnian women who brought to light the issue of rape as an instrument of ethnic cleansing in the armed conflict in Bosnia. Both of these women's movements were joined by Rwandan women who recalled the 800,000 Rwandans who were brutally slaughtered and the thousands of women who were raped in a state-led genocide targeting the Tutsi ethnic group. Together, they called for the end of rape and sexual violence as a tool of war. Their painful stories told in a daylong session resulted in the Beijing Platform specifying that rape by armed groups during wartime is a war crime. More recently, definitions of war crimes such as rape became punishable in the International Criminal Court and war crimes tribunals.

This year's CSW will be challenging given the conditions people are facing worldwide, including the wars in Gaza and Ukraine, the genocide in Ethiopia, U.S. sanctions against countries — all of which have a disproportionate impact on women and children. The rise of right-wing fundamentalist groups have seriously impacted the reproductive rights of women and the right to bodily autonomy. Let us remember that in June 2022, our U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, eliminating the federal right to abortion, a decision that took almost 50 years for the right wing to reverse. In addition, many governments, including in the U.S., have set their sights on turning back progressive LGBTQ+ legislation, taking away the human rights of LGBTQ+ people, especially targeting transgender people.

However, the challenges will not go unheeded, as each attack on the rights of women and girls are met by voices of challenge and organizing. In light of the U.S. Supreme Court's reversal of Roe v. Wade, women have organized to pass legislation in various states protecting the right of women to choose and to control their own bodies. Women in Cuba led by the Federation of Cuban Women ushered in the passage of a new constitution that ensures all rights to all people and the passage of the Families Code of Law to carry out these directives, including the right to marriage for all people, setting the standard for peoples' rights all over the world. The war on the Palestinian people in Gaza that has resulted in over 30,000 deaths, of which 70% have been women and children, has been met with an unprecedented international response of condemnation and a call for cease-fire.

As we celebrate Women's History Month and consider the recent International Women's Day, let us give thanks to the women we know and work with. Thank them for their work in their homes, their workplaces, and their communities, and promise them that every day we will work for their full equality!

The South Seattle Emerald is committed to holding space for a variety of viewpoints within our community, with the understanding that differing perspectives do not negate mutual respect amongst community members.

The opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints expressed by the contributors on this website do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints of the Emerald or official policies of the Emerald.

Cindy Domingo is Board Chair of A Legacy of Equality Leadership and Organizing (LELO) and has been involved with women's human rights since attending the historic 1995 United Nations International Conference on Women in Beijing China.

📸 Featured Image: People joined Washington leaders Tuesday, May 3, 2022, to protest a draft opinion showing the U.S. Supreme Court had voted to overturn Roe v. Wade, a ruling ensuring a woman's right to an abortion. (Photo: Alex Garland)